That Mr Morrison explicitly ruled out the release of children held in offshore detention centres on Nauru and Christmas Island did lend the announcement an air of hypocrisy, however.

The Coalition’s “stop the boats’’ policy has succeeded in a way that perhaps not even its most ardent proponents dared hope when it was implemented late last year. Just a single boatload of asylum-seekers has made it to Australian territory this year, versus 300 in 2013, with an attendant reduction in lives lost as a result of over-loaded and unseaworthy vessels founding on their way from Java to Christmas Island or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Fewer arrivals have also allowed the Government to increase its intake under the special humanitarian refugee program: indeed, it’s difficult to imagine the Government would have agreed to look at offering refuge to as many as 4000 Iraqis and Syrians fleeing violence in the Islamic State in northern Iraq had Christmas Island continued to be flooded by new arrivals.

However, the cost to Australia of Operation Sovereign Borders – diplomatic, financial and reputational – has been significant. Relations with Indonesia remain strained as the result of the navy transferring asylum-seekers to life boats and towing them back to Java, while billions of dollars have been spent in re-establishing and operating detention facilities at Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Moreover, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees remains strongly critical of what it says are continued breached by Australia of its obligations under international refugee conventions. The air of disrepute over Sovereign Borders was further underlined by last year’s riot on Manus, which left one asylum-seeker and many others badly injured. In that case, however, the Government side-stepped opprobrium by virtue of the fact that it had outsourced operation of the detention facility to British multinational company G4S.

The Coalition has been quick to claim bragging rights, and the air of self-congratulation will probably intensify around the time of the next election. It has even asserted (somewhat disingenuously) that its tough policies will “save’’ taxpayers $2.5 billion over the next five years, disregarding the fact that the ballooning costs of interdiction and detention were largely result of its policies. A lessening of the more draconian aspects of Operation Sovereign Borders, then, would seem to be in order.

In releasing children from detention, however, the Government knows it risks triggering an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors being placed on asylum-seeker boats – which is why minors who arrived after July 19 last year will remain in detention. A policy of keeping children under lock and key as a warning to others seems particularly heartless – but then the Government has never been unduly troubled by accusations of insensitivity. The Coalition’s desire to reintroduce TPVs is harder to fault. Unlike bridging visas, which allow detainees to legally reside in the community while their claims for protection are assessed, TPV allow holders to work as well. Many will scoff at the idea that TPVs are an improvement on bridging visas, but they have the virtue of allowing access to rights which the Human Rights Conditions considers are inalienable under the nternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Such a concession is long overdue.